What Could Go Wrong?
by ChickenMcNugget25
Summary: Three young men are taken out of their happy lives and thrown into a place that they've never been to, yet are familiar with. Realizing their situation, they realize the only way to get home is by heading out into the world of Monster Girl Quest alongside Alice and Luka. What could go wrong?
1. Chapter 1

**Two stories at the same time? Sounds crazy I know, but I have another idea that I'd like to see play out, and when I get an idea, I can't help but start writing about it. Besides, who doesn't like a good challenge?**

* * *

**Earth 2018**

_Don't look back!_

_A new day is breakin'_

_It's been too long since I felt this way_

_I don't mind where I get taken_

_The road is callin'_

_Today is the day!_

I stopped singing as I got a call from my Mom, since I was driving to my first day of college, I had my speakers blasting a fitting song through the car. It was a rainy day in Maine, yet it didn't bring me down. High school, which was terrible by the way, ended for me spring of last year. Now I can make friends that actually care, study the things I want, maybe even get a girlfriend! I had one for a brief bit in high school, didn't last long. So, not wasting any time, I answered the phone using my bluetooth.

"Hey Mom," I said cheerfully. My parents and I were pretty close, they supported me through my high school days.

"Hey Gary," she said. "How's your commute going?"

"Good," I said. "What's up?"

"I was wondering if you could get something for me," she responded.

"Sure," I said. "What do you need?"

"I n...a...fr...i…" her voice started cutting out as she started to answer.

"Hang on Mom," I said. "You're cutting out on me."

I looked down at my phone, the reception was fine, but technology wasn't the best so it could be wrong. I looked back up as I started to hear her voice again.

"...ou there?" she called. "Gary?"

"I can hear you now," I said as the song ended. I could hear thunder from outside. I looked to my left, I was on a hill overlooking a forest. "So, what'd you need?"

"Good," she said. "I need some buns if you don't mind. Your father wants to cook up some hamburgers."

"Sounds good," I said.

"Great," she said. 'Thanks, see you later."

"Yep," I said and she hung up. A couple silent seconds went by before I realized that the music wasn't playing anymore. "Weird, I thought I put it on autoplay."

I looked at the screen where it showed the song. Nothing, but my phone said the song was playing. Suddenly, there was a huge sound of thunder, abnormally loud. I looked up just in time to see lightning strike in front of me, causing a large chunk of the road to explode, instinctively I slammed on the brakes. But then I realized my mistake as my car started sliding left and right due to the wet roads. Immediately, my car swerved off the road and started flying down to the forest below! I braced myself for impact, but I knew this would be a fatal accident. The last thing I heard as my car rammed straight into a tree, was the start of another song.

_It's been such a long time,_

_I think I should be goin'_

* * *

Something tasted really awful as I started to regain consciousness. I rolled over on my back and groaned as sunlight hit me. Wait...something wasn't right, aside from the taste in my mouth. Everything came back, the thunderbolt, the car crash. I should be dead! Maybe I didn't die, and i was in the hospital. I sat up and opened my eyes.

"What the…" Was all I could say. I clearly wasn't in a hospital room. Instead, I was in a clearing in some forest. Was it the forest I crashed in? No, my car would be here too, and the grass would be wet from rain. "So, where am I?"

I stood up and looked around. There was no hint of where I was. But then I noticed them, two other guys, lying on the grass. There was some space between them. Maybe they knew what was going on? I walked over to the one closest to me. He was slightly chubby and looked to be about the same age as me. He had a brown long sleeved shirt and blue jeans with a belt. His hair was a messy dirty blonde, and he had a very pale skin tone. I tried shaking him. Nothing. Was he asleep? I walked over to the other one.

This guy was pretty much the opposite of the first, tall and stocky. He had a short sleeved red shirt on and khaki shorts. His hair was also light brown. And he was much more tan than the other. Yet he also looked to be about my age. I tried shaking him. His eyes immediately fluttered open and when he saw me his face turned to confusion. He shot into a sitting position, hitting his forehead into my chin in the process.

"Ow!" I exclaimed as I grasped my chin.

"W...who are you?" he stuttered. "Where am I?"

"I could ask you the same question," I said. When he looked even more confused I sighed. "I'm Gary Damoore. As for where we are, I haven't the foggiest."

"What do you mean?" he asked, standing up and rubbing his forehead.

"I mean, I think we're in the same situation," I explained. "I just woke up, like two minutes ago, I don't know where we are."

"You're kidding…" he said with a look of shock. "This is like one of those stories you read in books, where the character is whisked off to an unknown place…"

"God," I sighed. "I hope not…For now, we should look for civilisation. Which hopefully isn't t-"

"Monster!" A shout suddenly interrupted my sentence. It didn't sound too far away.

"Who was that?!" the guy exclaimed, obviously as worried as I was.

"There's only one way to find out…" I said. But then looked back at the other guy from earlier. "If we leave, we should bring him along."

"Who's that?" he asked.

"Not sure," I shrugged. "But he's probably in the same predicament we are, so I don't want to just leave him there."

I was worried that this guy would disagree, but thankfully, he nodded. We walked over to the slightly chubby guy and lifted him up. Me grabbing his arms, and the other guy grabbing his legs.

"By the way," I said as we started carrying him to the source of the shout. "What's your name?"

"Evan Trevdale," he grunted. As we went further, I heard more shouting.

"Well, at least we know there's people here," I said. And as we breached through the trees, I saw a bunch of people running into houses, and a glimpse of someone running into the trees a couple yards away. Why does this seem so familiar? Once people saw us carrying this man, they hesitantly came over.

"Did he get attacked by the monster?" one of the people asked, a woman.

"Monster?" Evan questioned. It was then it hit me, and what one of the men said next confirmed it.

"Yeah, I saw a slime girl this close to the village! Luka went after it...I hope he's okay."

Not realizing it, I dropped the chubby guy's arms. This couldn't be happening, I was _here _of all places?! I looked at Evan who looked as shocked as I was. Did he know too?!

"You guys okay?" the woman from before asked.

"Evan set him down real quick," I said. "I need to talk to you alone."

Evan just nodded with wide eyes and set him down. "Excuse us for a second," I said to the crowd and I walked behind one of the old styled buildings. I turned around to see Evan just staring at the ground.

"Evan," I said calmly. "Do you know whe-"

"Yes…" he said quickly. He looked like he didn't want to tell me, fair enough. We are in a game based off having sex with monsters.

"At least I'm not the only one…" I sighed. His head snapped up to look at me, tears in his eyes.

"You mean?"

"Yes," I said. "Welcome to the world of Monster Girl Quest I suppose."

Evan started freaking out, "Of all places! Why here?! I want to go home."

"Calm down Evan!" I exclaimed, grabbing his shoulders. "We're here, and we have to control ourselves!"

It took a second, but he eventually calmed himself. "What are we gonna do?"

I sighed, "Well, judging by what's going on, we're at the start of the game. We should just go through the motions, follow Luka and Alice. Maybe someone will know how this happened and how to get back."

"Following Luka will be dangerous," Evan said, wiping his eyes with his shirt.

"I know, but we can't sit here," I sighed. "The answer is out there, it's gotta be."

Evan nodded, he seemed to finally realize the situation.

"Alright," I said. "Let's head back and get a feel for things."

And so we walked back to the group of people, we had to assimilate into the world if we were to ever find our way home. Because neither of us wanted to be stuck here. I'm sure Evan had a life too. I didn't know an awful lot about chubby guy, but I doubt he'd want to be stuck here either. Hopefully, we'll all be back home as fast as possible. Hopefully...


	2. Chapter 2

We were in a room at the inn when the rumble was felt. It was faint, but Evan and I could still feel it.

"That must be Alice falling from the sky," Evan said. "So we are truly at the beginning…"

"I'm kind of surprised that a sports player like you plays games like this," I said. "Not trying to be discriminatory, but you look like you'd be popular with the girls."

Evan and I had been talking for a couple of minutes, he was a 20 year old football player in Illinois, he was practicing for a game when he was struck by a lightning bolt in a freak thunderstorm. We both found that suspicious enough on its own. This was no accident.

"Nah," Evan smiled half heartedly. "To tell you the truth, I'm kinda shy when it comes to women."

"Huh," I said. "That's another thing we can add to the list of our similarities. I had a girlfriend for a little over a month in high school. Didn't last long."

He chuckled, "Yeah, that's probably how it would go for me."

It was then the chubby guy who we'd put in the bed next to where we were sitting started to stir. I looked at Evan.

"How do we break it to him?" I asked.

"I think we should be straight with him," Evan suggested. I nodded, it was risky, but why not. The guy turned onto his back and opened his eyes. It took a second for him to register that he wasn't where he should be.

"W...what?" he stuttered as he sat up. His eyes locked onto us. "Who are you people? Where am I?!"

He started to hyperventilate, "Calm down man. It's alright, we're not gonna hurt you or anything."

My words seemed to calm him down, thankfully. He spoke up again, looking at both of us, "Who are you guys?"

"I'm Gary Damoore, and this is Evan Trevdale," Evan gave a smile as I said his name.

"Where...where am I?" he said looking around the small room. Evan and I looked at each other, he nodded at me to do the talking. I looked back at the guy.

"Have you ever heard of the game Monster Girl Quest?" I asked, this could go one of two ways.

"Yes…" he eyed me nervously, then his eyes opened wide in shock. "You're joking right? This is a joke…"

I shook my head, at least he knew what the game was, that was a relief, but also suspicious. Why three people that knew the game, why us?

"This isn't a joke sadly," Evan sighed. "I'm sorry."

"'Sorry'?" the guy smiled. "This is amazing!"

I looked at him in disbelief, "I was not expecting you to say that."

"Um...Why is this amazing?" Evan asked.

"Two reasons," the guy said, holding up two fingers. "I've always wanted to be transported to a game, and two, since it's this game I have a chance of getting laid!"

"But what about your home?" I asked. "Did you not like it there?"

"I mean," he said. "I was happy, but this is awesome, and besides, I'm sure I'll be able to go back eventually."

"Not if you get eaten or raped for eternity!" I exclaimed. This guy was weirdly optimistic given the situation.

"What do you mean?" he questioned. "Isn't this after Luka defeats Ilias?"

Evan and I looked at each other.

"Oh fuck…" he muttered. "Well, I'm sure everything will be alright."

Yeah, _weirdly _optimistic. "So...what's your name?" I asked.

He held out his hand and said, "Jeremiah Hunt! Pro gamer!"

He said that like it was the biggest accomplishment ever. But I shook his hand anyways as he smiled. At least one of us was happy. Though I had to admit, his optimism was getting to me.

"So," he started. "What's the game plan?"

So Evan and I told Jeremiah what happened up to this point, and what we were planning on doing.

"Won't they be suspicious if three guys suddenly wanted to tag along?" Jeremiah wondered.

"True…" Evan muttered.

"How about this," I started. "We're travelers that got attacked by a monster, we lost our stuff as we tried to get away, and we need help getting back to the continent of Sentora. We can figure the rest out when we get there."

"That's a good idea Gary!" Jeremiah said. "I guess knowing the game is gonna help us a lot."

"True," Evan said. "But we can't reveal ourselves, telling them the future is probably a bad idea."

We nodded, "They probably wouldn't believe us anyways." I said.

"Alright," I stood up. "Let's get this show on the road."

"Sounds good," Jeremiah smiled and stood up.

"Good," Evan said. "I wanna go home as fast as possible."

Jeremiah snorted and Evan glared at him. I just rolled my eyes and motioned for them to follow. I had a feeling troubling times were ahead. We headed downstairs where the innkeeper, Betty, greeted us.

"Hello you three!" she said cheerfully. Then looked at Jeremiah, "Glad to see you're doing alright!"

"Uh thanks…" Jeremiah said.

"So what are you three planning on doing now?" she asked.

"We're hoping to head back up to Sentora," I said.

"On your own?" she looked at us worriedly. "You said you lost all your stuff right? How are you planning to survive?"

"Uh," Jeremiah started thinking.

"We'll be alright," Evan said quickly.

Betty looked between the three of us. Then sighed. "I have some surplus food, take that at the very least, so you don't starve. Here, I'll put it in this backpack."

Like she said, she put some food in a backpack and gave it to Evan. "You look sturdy enough. You can carry it, right?"

Jeremiah and I snickered as Evan solemnly took the bag.

I looked at Betty, "Thanks for the help!"

"You're welcome," she said as we walked out of the building. "Don't die out there for me, okay?"

We all nodded. Once we left the building we looked around.

"Anyone see Luka?" I asked.

"Over there," Evan said pointing to the left. Sure enough, as I looked, there was Luka heading into a house. That spiky purple hair was easily recognizable.

"Alright," I said walking towards the house that Luka just entered. "You guys remember the backstory right?"

They both nodded as I looked back at them. In a second we were at the front door. I raised my hand to knock when Evan hissed, "Wait!"

I looked at him, "What?"

"Don't you remember?" he asked. "This is where he talks to Alice, after the failed baptism."

"Oh shit, yeah," I said. "Let's wait then."

"Uh oh…" I heard Jeremiah say, I looked to where he was. He was walking over to us.

"Where'd you go?" I asked.

"I might've peeked into the window...and Alice might've seen me," he said nervously.

I really wanted to facepalm, but decided to just say, "Oh dear."

The door to the house opened to reveal the one and only Luka, "Can I help you guys?"

"No no," Jeremiah said. "Not yet, get back to talking with Alice."

That was when I facepalmed. And I think Evan did too…

Luka looked at me confused, "You know her?"

Jeremiah had a face of regret, "Welp, damn…"

"Kinda?" I said nervously.

"Oh," Luka said. "Well, um...you just missed her. She said she was gonna wait outside of the village. This village doesn't take kindly to monsters. By the way, who are you guys?"

We introduced ourselves and then told him our made up backstory.

"I see," he said. "Well, I wouldn't mind it, the more the merrier."

"Good," I said. "If you don't mind we'll meet you outside the village as well, I need to have a talk with my friends here."

I could almost feel Jeremiah's nervousness.

"Okay," Luka nodded. "I just need to say goodbye to the villagers."

"Sounds good," I said. With that out of the way, we headed towards the outskirts of the village. Once we were out of the Village I angrily looked at Jeremiah.

"I cannot believe this!" I exclaimed. "You had one job!"

Jeremiah seemed to take offense, "Well I'm sorry! I'm not the best at lying for one, and two, you're half baked idea wasn't the best in the first place!"

"You said it was a good idea!" I yelled back.

"Uh guys…" Evan said.

"Well, I lied!" Jeremiah spat.

"Well, I lied too," I exclaimed. "I am _definitely _going to hurt you!"

"Guys…" Evan said again.

"Bring it on, Slim Jim!" Jeremiah shouted.

"You got it Tubby!" I said, we were about to get into an all out brawl when Evan shouted.

"GUYS!"

We both turned our attention to where Evan was looking to see a very suspicious Alice.

"Do you three mind telling me what's going on here?" she glared. "And don't lie."

Welp, there goes our plan down the drain. I felt like the worst was yet to come.


	3. Chapter 3

"Um…" I said. "We're just travel-oof!"

I was interrupted by Alice's tail winding around me, man, she is really freaking strong! It started to hurt too.

"Don't lie…" she said. This time much angrier. "The kid might believe your half assed story. But I'm not an idiot. Are you?"

I looked at Evan and Jeremiah, who were just standing there, staring blankly into space. Alice probably did her voodoo magic on them. It was getting harder to breathe too.

"Okay, okay!" I exclaimed. "I'll tell you!"

"I'm listening," she said, not letting go.

"You're not gonna release me first?" I asked.

She just glared and started to constrict me even more.

"Ow!" I said. "Alright! How do I explain this? We're not from around here."

"No shit idiot," she said.

"Well," I started. "By not from around here, I mean like this planet, or this universe even."

She slightly let go, but didn't let me go completely yet.

"You expect me to believe that?" she said.

"I have proof," I said quickly. "I can tell you things that normal humans wouldn't know."

"Like what?" she asked.

I looked around to make sure Luka wasn't nearby yet. He wasn't. "You're the Monster Lord."

She looked at me for a second, "That's not good enough."

I winced, I couldn't tell her future events or anything. But I could tell her the past! There was a big thing that only a few knew. "Yo...you're mom, the previous Monster Lord, was killed by four adventurers. You, seeing your dead mom, got really upset and killed two of them! The other two escaped, and-"

"That's enough," she said, dropping me to the ground. I could tell she was upset.

"I'm sorry I upset you," I said. "But I didn't know what else t-"

"I get it," she said sternly, which surprised me. At least she didn't kill me. "But if you are from another planet or whatever, how do you know this stuff?"

And so I proceeded to explain about this 'book', I didn't say video game because that'd lead to more questions, about Luka and herself and how they go on a journey. I didn't mention any future events, though. And she understood why.

"That's even harder to believe," she said.

"Yeah," I said. "That's why I didn't think it was a good idea to tell you."

"Why do you wanna come with the idiot and I then?" she asked. I almost chuckled. Calling Luka an idiot was a staple during the game. "Why not just go home?"

"That's the thing," I said. "We have no idea how to get home. One minute I was heading to college, then I woke up in the middle of this forest with three strangers."

"You don't know them?" she said glancing at Evan and Jeremiah.

"Hardly," I said. "We all have two things in common. We've read the 'book', and we want to find a way home. We feel like the only way to figure that out is by heading out into the world."

She looked at me intensely for a second, which made me feel very uncomfortable.

"I'm not sure if I believe you yet," she finally said. "But that explanation will have to do."

I sighed in relief. She turned to Jeremiah and Evan, her eyes flashed and then they regained their senses.

"What happened?" Jeremiah said.

"Alice used her voodoo magic on you guys," I said. "I gotta admit, you two looked pretty silly."

"Aw man," Jeremiah said. "I wish I had voodoo magic."

"How come she didn't do it to you?" Evan asked me.

"She decided that strangling the truth out of me was the best way to go," I said.

"Ah," Evan said. He turned to Alice, "So you know?"

"I don't know if I believe it, but yes," Alice responded.

"Welp," Jeremiah said. "There goes the plan."

I sighed. "Yep."

"Should we tell Luka?" Evan wondered.

"I think it'd be too much for him at the moment," I said. "Besides, telling Alice might've already changed the future, I don't want to screw things up more than we already have. I mean, us being here is changing the story."

Evan and Jeremiah nodded. Evan looked behind me, "Here comes Luka."

I turned around, and sure enough Luka was coming down the road, seemingly deep in thought. He was mumbling to himself. Eventually, he reached us.

"Hey everybody," he said solemnly.

"What's got you down, my man?" Jeremiah said.

"I just...I didn't get baptized earlier," he muttered. "Did Ilias really abandon me?"

I kind of wanted to cheer him up, but then Alice spoke up.

"Isn't it better to not have been baptized?" she said. "I don't know why humans want to be slaves to Ilias."

"Yeah especially since s-"

I slapped Jeremiah in the back of his head as he almost spilled another secret. I couldn't believe one man could be so loose with secrets. Does he just not think about what he's saying? Luckily, the slap worked and he backed off with a sheepish grin.

Luka looked at us curiously, but then started speaking again. "Being a hero has a lot of peks you know. You get respect, cheap inn rates, and you even get to walk into other people's houses and take things."

I snorted, I forgot he said that.

"Walk into people's houses and take things…are you a thief or something?" Alice said.

"It works in most rpg's…" Jeremiah muttered. I couldn't help but giggle at that.

"Er…" Luka said. "It's not quite like that. But most importantly, you get the divine protection of Ilias! She will defend you against monsters."

"Until she decides to wipe everyone from the face of the planet…" Evan muttered quietly to himself. I only heard it because he was right next to me.

"Baptized human semen tastes awful," Alice said. "So monsters aren't as likely to attack them."

"The way she just casually says that," Jeremiah chuckled.

"Is that how it works?" Luka wondered. He turned to us, "Are you guys baptized?"

"Nope," I said.

"Baptized people taste like Angel Liver, disgusting," Alice said.

Luka stood there for a second, he didn't seem like he wanted to ask. But it looks like Evan's curiosity got the best of him.

"When did you eat an Angel, or did you just have the liver?"

I facepalmed, though I had to admit, Luka's shocked face was priceless.

"I just had the liver," Alice said. "It was a while ago though."

"Huh," I said. I couldn't tell if she was joking or not.I looked to Luka...who had fallen to the ground. "I think you shocked him unconscious."

"Oh dear," Evan said.

"Good job, Evan," Jeremiah said. "We've walked like four yards and you've already knocked out our hero."

"Sorry…" Evan said sheepishly.

"Where'd Alice go?" I asked, looking around.

"Doesn't her disappearing usually mean there's a monster nearby?" Evan wondered.

"Oh shit…" I said, looking around. "This is where the slug girl appears!"

"Evan!" Jeremiah exclaimed. I looked towards Evan to see the slug girl approaching him from behind out of the forest. Evan turned around just in time. As the slug girl's arms reached for evan he backed up as quickly as possible.

"Aww," she said. "I almost had you…"

"Attacking us by yourself?" Evan questioned. "That's risky."

"You guys don't have weapons, and one of you is unconscious," she smiled.

"Touche," Jeremiah said.

"And besides," she smirked. "Who says I'm alone?"

I heard rustling behind me and saw not one, but two more freaking slug girls coming out of the forest!

"Well, shit…" I said, this didn't happen in the game. I started backing away from the two, only to run into Evan, who was also backing away. I heard Jeremiah shout and I looked over to see him fall backwards over Luka's unconscious body into one of the slug girl's waiting arms.

"Gah!" he exclaimed.

"Don't worry hun," she smiled. "I'll make you feel real good~"

He looked at us, dread in his eyes, "Could use some help here!"

I looked around for something that could help us.

"Do something guys!" Jeremiah exclaimed. "When I said I wanted to get laid, I didn't mean like this!"

"Who do you want?" the slug girl in front of Evan asked the other one in front of me.

"I want the muscular one," the one in front of me said, looking at Evan. Suddenly, my foot hit something on the ground, it was Luka's sword! Quickly, I grabbed it, but it was partially stuck under Luka! I tried pulling on it harder.

"Haha," the one holding Jeremiah laughed. "Look at him struggle, these guys are weak! I'm glad we found them."

But as soon as she finished her sentence, I pulled the sword out of the ground. Only for me to fall backwards out of surprise! The sword flew from my hands straight towards the one that was coming towards me. The blunt side hit the slug girl right in the forehead, knocking her to the ground, seemingly unconscious.

"Holy shit!" Evan said, he was now struggling to get out of his own slug girl's arms, who was shocked at the sight.

"That's some serious rng right there," Jeremiah muttered. But then the remaining slug girl's regained their senses. They knocked out Jeremiah and Evan by slamming their fists down on their heads.

"Change of plans," the one that was next to Jeremiah's unconscious body said. "We render all of them unconscious and bring them back to the nest!"

"Good idea!" the other one said. They both started creeping towards me. I had to think fast. Thankfully, I noticed Evan's travel bag. Betty put salt in the bag if I remembered correctly. Quickly, I dug around until I found it. Pulling out the salt can, they slug girl's realized what I was doing immediately.

"You wouldn't!" the one next to Evan's unconscious body exclaimed, eyes wide.

"Oh I would!" I smirked. Looking between me, the bodies and the salt. They decided to grab the unconscious slug girl and dragged her away, seemingly not wanting to take the chance.

"We'll remember this!" I heard one of them shout as they ran...er "slugged" into the forest.

As they fled, I sighed. "Damn that was close," I muttered.

"You got that right," Alice said slithering back. "A minute later and you and your merry band of idiots would be slug partners for life."

"Aw," I smiled. "It almost seems like you care."

She snorted, "Yeah right. So what now?"

"Now we wait," I sighed again. This adventure was gonna be a lot harder than I thought. But one thought prevailed above all: the game didn't have three slug girls. So if there was a minor difference like that, could there be major differences too? I shuddered just thinking about it. Only time will tell, if we survive that long...


	4. Chapter 4

"So," Alice said to Luka, who was walking next to her. "Where are you headed? Directly towards the Monster Lord's Castle?"

"I'll end up there eventually," Luka replied.

Luka, Evan and Jeremiah had all regained consciousness. We decided to tell Luka that the whole Angel Liver fiasco was just a dream, easier on everybody that way. Now we were heading to Iliasburg. Luka and Alice up front. Jeremiah and Evan in the middle. And...me in the back. I kind of felt like the odd one out in all honesty. Evan and Jeremiah seemed to be getting along really well. Of course, Alice and Luka were supposed to get along, eventually at least. We didn't want to mess that up. I looked up, the sun was starting to set. We would have to make camp soon.

"If we keep at our current pace," Luka said. "We'll be at Iliasburg tomorrow."

"Oh come on," Alice groaned. "Iliasburg, Iliasport, Ilias Village, Ilias Ilias Ilias! What's with all the cheesy names?"

Good 'ol Alice.

"Why is everything that comes out of your mouth so horrible?" Luka frowned.

Good 'ol Luka.

"Don't use that tone with me," Alice frowned. "More importantly, I'm hungry again."

At least most of the banter between those two haven't changed. Though I believe this conversation came before the slug girl fight.

"Didn't you already eat up all my dried meat?" Luka questioned. "Though, I guess we can set up camp now. It's almost nightfall."

"Oh God yes," Jeremiah sighed. "I've never walked so far in my life!"

Luka looked at him curiously, "Aren't you from Sentora? That's a long ways away."

Jeremiah seemed to realize his mistake, "Figure of speech, Luka."

"Oh," Luka said. "Okay."

Man, I forgot how naive Luka could be, especially at the beginning. And so, we set up camp near the dirt road, Luka started cooking a nice hot meal for us. Alice was sitting next to me, impatiently waiting for the food. She decided to speak up.

"Hey, Gary," she said. I looked at her. "You looked surprised when the slug girls showed up. Did that not happen in the book?"

"Only one showed up in it," I said. "It worries me that things might be different than the book."

"Why is that worrying?" she asked.

"Because, if that changed," I replied. "Bigger things might change too. I honestly don't know what trials may await us."

She hummed. "By the way, though that fight was incredibly sloppy, the salt was a good idea."

I was surprised at that statement, in the game, she berates Luka for using the salt. Maybe since I didn't actually use it and just showed it, she wasn't upset.

"It wasn't my idea though," I said. "Luka had that idea in the book. I just remembered that and acted quickly."

I decided to leave out the part where he used up all the salt.

"Oh," Alice said.

"Food's ready!" Luka said, handing out plates with omelettes on them to each of us. We pretty much ate in silence. I ate mine really fast, what can I say? I was hungry.

Evan looked at the sky and started talking, "It's almost night time, I'm gonna go to bed."

"Sounds good," Luka said. "I think I'm going to bed too."

I nodded, Luka set his sword down when it hit me. Alice was supposed to teach Luka a move tonight! Luka was already getting ready for bed.

"Hey Alice," I whispered to her.

"What?" she asked, looking confused as to why I was whispering.

"You need to teach Luka how to properly use the sword," I said.

She raised her eyebrow, "And...why should I do that?"

"Because you do in the book," I whispered as quietly as possible.

"But I haven't even seen him fight," Alice said.

"It's horrible," I said. "According to you at least."

I stood up, and walked over to Luka, who was getting his sleeping bag ready.

"Hey Luka," I said. "Alice wants to see you and your sword 'skills'."

Evan and Jeremiah looked at me, confused.

"What?" Luka asked. "Why?"

"I dunno," I said.

"Can't I show her tomorrow?" Luka yawned. "I'm kind of tired."

"But she is like, _dying _to see your sword maneuvers," I said. Then I leaned into his ear. "I think she secretly thinks you're cool. Despite what she says at least."

"Hmm," Luka muttered. "Okay!"

He walked over to Alice, who gave me the scariest look I've ever seen in my life. Did she hear what I said?

"Bruh," Jeremiah said. "She's gonna kill you."

I nodded, and grabbed my sleeping bag, Alice and Luka were practicing already. I could already hear Alice saying his skills were horrible. I scurried back over to Evan and Jeremiah.

"Can I sleep next to you guys tonight?" I asked. "Peace of mind."

"Sure," Evan said. "Why would we care?"

And with that, we all got in our sleeping bags, I almost instantly fell asleep.

* * *

"Gary…"

"One more minute Mom…" I muttered. As I turned over on my bed, though this didn't feel like a bed. Wait...shouldn't I be in a sleeping bag? My eyes darted open to reveal a cloudy and bright landscape. It was almost heav-

"Oh no…" I muttered.

I looked around, there she was. The bitch herself was right in front of me!

"Ilias!" I exclaimed.

"Hello, oh brave Gary," she smiled.

"Cut the act Ilias," I said. "I know your game."

She gained a devious smirk, "Then you also know not to talk to me like that. I could kill you easily."

"Then how come you haven't?" I questioned.

"Because," she said. "You and your two idiotic companions are my backups."

That left me dumbfounded, "Say what?"

"I sense confliction inside Luka already," she sighed. "I fear he may turn on me. So, if he fails to defeat the Monster Lord in any way shape or form. One of you three will."

"Two problems with that," I said, holding up two fingers. "I have no training of any kind. I have no magic in me as well."

"It's true, you have no training," she said. "But you do have magic."

Again, I'm shocked.

"Yes," she said. "I sense it in you three. A dormant magic of some kind, and it is powerful."

"But I don't have training," I said.

"I feel you won't need it when the magic is set free," she said. "But to be on the safe side, and I despise doing this. But ask Alice in training. You won't need a sword, just yourself."

I was confused as to what she meant by that, but I shook my head. "You're forgetting one thing."

"I know," she smiled. "You don't _want _to help me. But you **need** to help me."

"Oh yeah?" I said. "And why's that?"

"Because I can take you home," she said.

"W...what?" I stuttered out. "Did you bring us here?"

She shook her head, "No, I don't know who or what brought you here. But I can take you home."

My insides started fighting each other. I wanted to go home, but I couldn't just kill Alice for my sake.

"Just think about it," Ilias smiled. "Oh and don't tell anyone about this conversation. Or you _will _die."

I nodded shakily. And the last thing I saw before I fell back into sleep was her cold smile.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey all! Short chapter I know, especially after being gone so long, but I just wanted to give basically a snippet of what I have planned. Of course, anyone who's still following this is pry wondering where I've been. Nothing I wanna delve into, I went through a really hard time basically, I'm still mildly having a tough go, and I'm working now too, but I'm at the point where I can finally continue this project. Which I'm really excited about. Also yes...I did delete Amnesia. In all honesty, I didn't like how it was going. I thought the whole big crossover thing was cool, but I just thought it was bad. So that's that. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this small chapter as kind of a 'thanks for waiting, but I'm back' deal. **

* * *

"Ilias!" Was the first thing I heard as I woke up. I quickly sat up and looked around, Luka was standing above his bedroll with his fist in the air going, "I can do it!"

Ah yes, Ilias must've appeared in his dream as well. That got me thinking. She said that not only was I a 'backup', but so was Evan and Jeremiah. I looked at them, they were just starting to get up, Evan yawning casually, and Jeremiah...was scratching his crotch of all things. They definitely didn't seem like they were just visited from Ilias. But why would she only visit me?

"Yo Gary," Evan said, walking up to me. "You alright?"

"Y….yeah," I stuttered out.

"Alright," he said, sounding unconvinced, but he didn't press. In all honesty nobody really knew each other personally yet. So it was natural for Evan not to pry. Either way, I wasn't gonna tell him. I had to find someone to tell this to though. But who? And a more important question, would Ilias actually kill me if I did? That made me think twice about telling someone. Maybe Ilias had spies or something, and if so...

"Morning Gary," Jeremiah spoke this time, snapping me out of my thoughts. Evan was walking towards Luka, who seemed to be getting ready to cook breakfast. Alice was just uncoiling from her tree, grumbling something.

"Sup Jeremiah?" I questioned.

"Just saying good morning," he said. "Can't I do that?"

"Yeah," I said. "Sorry."

"It's fine dude," he laughed and proceeded to walk over to Evan and Luka. "Just teasing."

I sighed, stood up and walked over as well, by that time Alice had joined around the fire. She looked around warily.

"What's up Alice?" I asked and sat next to her.

"I smell something odd," she muttered. She sniffed, "Reminds me of a certain meal."

"Angel liver?" I whispered as a joke, low enough so that Luka couldn't hear. But Alice tensed up for some reason. "Alice?"

The next thing I knew Luka had fallen to the floor unconscious and Alice was holding somebody by the throat! Wait...

"Holy shit…" Jeremiah muttered as we all saw who Alice was holding. A full fledged angel! She wasn't one I recognized from the game, she had golden armor and flowing blonde hair. She was almost as tall as Alice too. But the craziest thing was her weapon, a crimson red mace that was laying on the grass now.

"Let me go!" she shouted, struggling against Alice's grip.

"Why are you spying on us?" Alice questioned.

So I was right about that much…

"I...I shouldn't say…" she said hesitantly.

"Ilias sent you huh?" Alice answered for her, seemingly tightening her grip. But then the angel said something I wasn't expecting.

"No, Master sent me!"

That kind of took all of us aback.

"W...who's 'Master'?" Evan asked.

"L...let me go and I'll tell you!" she exclaimed.

"And we're supposed to just believe you?" Alice snorted.

"Alice," I said. She looked at me. "Give her a chance at least. You're obviously stronger than her so if things go south, just kick her ass."

She looked back and forth between me and the angel, and let her go. The angel clutched her throat and breathed hard for a second. Then she looked at me and smiled, "Thank you, Champion Gary."

I went back into a state of disbelief.

"I'm sorry, I must've misheard that," I chuckled. "Could you repeat that?"

"I said," the angel smiled again. "'Thank you, Champion Gary'."

Evan, Jeremiah and Alice all looked at me expectantly. I just shrugged. The angel then perked up, "Oh my bad. You haven't been informed yet, kinda forgot in my excitement."

"Forgot what?" Evan asked. "Who are you? And who's Master?"  
"My name is Eranel," she said. "I'm an angel, obviously, and I work for Master."

"You still haven't told us who the Hell Master is," Jeremiah finally said something.

"Oh!" Eranel said. "He's the one who brought you all here to stop the future from changing! I usually don't say his name, but I guess for you Champions I can break the rules. His name is Lian, and he's Ilias' brother."

* * *

**Yep! That's the twist, I'm not gonna make anything crazy out there, like Amnesia was, but I also want it to have some major differences to the actual game. I needed a reason for them to be there and a major difference, so I did that and thought I'd add a little twist as well. Don't worry though, they'll still mostly follow the path of the game. Hope you guys enjoyed this little chapter and are excited for what's to come soon! **


	6. Chapter 6

**Yep! Another chapter because I had no work today! One thing I wanted to ask real quick if anybody is interested, should I start making longer chapters? It'd take longer for each update (Pry a week or more between chapters) so that's why I wanted to ask first. Anyways, on with the chapter!**

* * *

**Sometime During The Great Monster Wars**

Lian and his five angel followers knew this was their only chance to confront Ilias, while all of her angels were off fighting in the war. Lian didn't want to fight his only sibling, but he couldn't let this dark side of her take control. With determination, he walked towards Ilias' throne. Ilias noticed them immediately.

"What is it now, brother?" Ilias sighed. "Can't you see I'm thinking here?"

"I've come to stop you!" Lian said bravely and pulled out his golden mace. He was hoping he could talk Ilias out of it, but deep inside he knew, he had to fight her. "This war with Alice has to stop! Or all of this world will be destroyed."

Ilias cocked an eyebrow, "Treason? That's what this is about?"

"Sister," Lian said. "Can't you see this path you're going down? This selfish and power hungry path?"

"The only path I'm going down is victory against Alice and her sickening creations!" Ilias exclaimed. "I advise you to stop, before things get deadly. You know I don't want to kill my only brother, my first creation."

"You act like you own me just because you created me," Lian said. "But I have a mind of my own. Please, sister, maybe you could talk to Alice? Make a compromise or something."

"Pah!" Ilias spat. "Alice would never. And besides, you know dark and light can't cross."

"Alice is hesitating, I can tell," Lian reasoned. "She doesn't want to destroy everything, you don't either, I know it.

"If it means defeating her," Ilias replied. "Then yes, I do."

Lian could feel tears in his eyes forming, "Then I have no choice."

He raised his mace and pointed it at Ilias, who smirked. "Six against one hardly seems fair."

Lian looked back at his angels, who were in battle positions, "She's right."

His most loyal angel looked at him in shock, "But Master, surely-"

He raised his hand, "I'll be fine Eranel, but I want you all to leave. If things do go south, I want you all to go into hiding. I don't want to see you all suffer my fate."

All five angels looked at him with sadness, they knew he wouldn't be able to take down Ilias either way, but they at least wanted to go down with him. But, they heeded his orders and left. Eranel took one last look at her Master, and flew off crying...  
_

**Present Day**

"What happened next?" I asked.

"Master hasn't told me much of what transpired," Eranel continued. "But he did tell me that Ilias banished him from the planet and erased all knowledge of him from the angel's memories. Only my four sisters and I remembered him and we all went into hiding, thinking he was dead. Not long ago Master came to me in a dream and told me that he was alive and would soon come home. He told me that things in the world were happening that shouldn't and he would send three champions to keep the future from changing as much as possible. He mostly wants you three to keep Luka alive through his journey."

"Us?" Jeremiah said. "But we don't even have any skills other than knowledge of the game."

That's when I remembered what Ilias had said, "Well…"

"What?" Evan asked me.

"Ilias came to me in a dream," I confessed, hoping Ilias wouldn't smite me on the spot. "She told me that us three had powers. She also said that she would kill me if I told anyone."

"Sounds like Ilias…" Jeremiah muttered.

"Oh you don't have to worry about that," Eranel said. "I've hypnotized the angel that was spying on you."

"O...oh," I said. Relief flooded over me.

"Hang on," Jeremiah said. "Wouldn't we know if we had powers?"

"Not at the moment," Eranel said. "They're dormant and will only awaken when you absolutely need them."

"Ah," Jeremiah said. "So...how did Lian come to be in our universe anyways?"

"Master never told me," Eranel said. "He seems to not like to talk about his time in exile."

"Fair enough…" I muttered. I then looked at Alice, who hadn't said a word since Eranel revealed the truth. "Alice?"

"What sort of changes are there gonna be?" Alice asked.

Eranel shrugged, "We don't know for sure, some will be small, others will be big."

"Also," Alice said. "What's so special about Luka?"

I tensed, I wasn't sure if we should tell her due to the fact that it could alter future events. Then again, Eranel being here already was changing things. But wait, if the original game didn't have Eranel or Lian in its story at all, then…

"Well," Eranel started, taking me out of my thoughts. "He's supposed to save the world from Ilias."

That looked like it shocked Alice, so much for subtlety.

"This kid?" she questioned. "Wait...what does Ilias do?"

"I've probably said too much already," Eranel sighed. "Just try and keep Luka safe from changes. Alright, I'll allow three more questions, one from each of the champions."

"Did we always have our powers, is that the reason we were chosen?" Jeremiah asked, technically asking two questions.

"No," Eranel replied. "The Master gave them to you. The reason you were chosen is because of your knowledge and personality, as well as your ideals. Evan?"

Evan had raised his hand like he was in a classroom and was now lowering it. "When will we be able to go home?"

"After all this is over of course," Eranel said matter of factly. "That's if you'll still want to."

I didn't know why we wouldn't want to, but I didn't bother saying that. Eranel then looked at me expectantly, honestly, I wasn't sure what to ask. There was something in the back of my head that I felt was important, but I couldn't figure out what it was. So I just asked what I thought was also important.

"There's a possibility we could die, isn't there?" I asked.

Eranel hesitated, but eventually said, "Yes. Now Master wants me to return, don't worry though. My sisters and I will be watching over you. And I advise you not to talk to anyone about this, considering the future could change or Ilias finds out due to her spy which will become unhypnotized as soon as I leave, or both. Now I really must go! Go with bravery and determination, and good luck!"

With that Eranel disappeared, leaving all four of us in stunned silence. That is until Luka suddenly woke up from his unconscious state and shouted "The pasta is coming!".

Luka has some weird dreams...


	7. Chapter 7

**A teeny bit bigger than the previous chapters at least, still not sure if I want to make them longer or not yet. I'm just happy to be writing this story again. Anyways here you go!**

* * *

Once we all regained our senses, we started to pack up camp. Luka was very concerned about our unusual silence and I really wanted to tell the truth to him, but I also didn't want to upset Ilias' brother of all people...angels...whatever he's classified as. I definitely didn't want Ilias to know either. So we all shrugged it off and started back down the road. Again, we were in the usual travelling positions, which meant I was alone in the back. It gave me time to think about things, especially something Eranel said that really stuck with me. She said we could go home after this was all over, which is basically saying we've been kidnapped, but then she added 'if we still wanted to'. At first I was all pumped up to get this out of the way so I can go home. Then I thought about it more, I had my mom and dad, who were still probably worried sick. But I didn't have much else. I was gonna start college, but I didn't even know what I wanted to do with my life. I was never a big hit with the ladies either. At least here I had a much bigger possibility of having friends and a girl. Plus, I had a purpose here. Sure this world was more dangerous, but I wouldn't have to brave it alone. The only regret I'd have is I never got to say goodbye to my mom and dad. If only there was a way to let them know I'm alright…

Suddenly, there was a really loud high pitched scream from up ahead, it was far away but I still was left stunned for a second in shock. I looked up and realized that everyone was nowhere in sight! How far behind was I?! Quickly, I started running and as soon as I rounded a bend, my heart literally skipped a beat in fear. Jeremiah, Evan and Luka were all lying on the ground unconsc-

"Wait…" I muttered. Not unconscious, but paralyzed! In front of them was none other than the Mandragora, all I could see was her torso, head and plant thingy. As well as her...bare chest. "Shit!"

Of course, Alice was nowhere to be found. But that was to be expected.

"Alright!" she exclaimed angrily. "Who fell on my leaf this time?!"

"Me…" Jeremiah sputtered out, still stunned on the dirt.

"That really hurt, you know!" she huffed. But then her face got really lewd, which could only mean one thing. "I know how you can make it up to me though~"

"By talking about our anger like civilised people...and monsters?" Jeremiah suggested.

The Mandragora laughed, "You know that's not how this works."

"Yeah…" he muttered. "Luka! Evan! Do something!"

"I'm stunned too!" Luka exclaimed.

"Same!" Evan said.

"Well," the Mandragora's perverted smile grew even bigger. "What a lovely feast I'll be having today! And then I'll decide which one of you to keep. Now~"

Mandragora started reaching for Jeremiah, and that's when I stepped in.

"Wait!" I exclaimed. The Mandragora looked up at me in mild surprise.

"Another?" she said. "Can't you see I'm busy? Or would you like to join in~?"

"Not really…" I said. "But um...I can't let you hurt my friends!"

"How are you gonna stop me?" she smirked. "You don't have any weapons."

"You're right," I sighed. I had to talk our way out of this one, if I tried to move forward she could very well just scream again. And this time, I'd be too close. Maybe I could appeal to her somehow? She hasn't attacked me or the others yet. Also something she said earlier came to mind, she said 'this time'. Like this has happened before. "W...what's your name?"

She raised an eyebrow and I heard Jeremiah whimper, "We're gonna die."

"Mandy," she replied curtly. Of course that's her name. "What's it to ya?"

"I just wanna know why you're so frustrated," I responded.

"Why do you think?!" she angrily said. "Because an idiot fell on my leaf!"

"What're you doing Gary!?" Evan complained. "Help!"

I ignored Evan and kept my eyes on Mandy and got to the point. "Not the first time this has happened, I take it?"

"Well," she sighed. "No. This is like the 100th time this year some yahoo has either fallen on or pulled my poor leaf."

"That sounds pretty frustrating," I said.

"A lot of times I let them go unless I'm really hungry," she admitted. "I'm just so tired of this happening."

I thought for a second, and then had an idea. "What if we made a sign that told people to not touch your leaf...plant...thing? That way you wouldn't have this problem."

She stood still for a solid ten seconds before saying, "That...actually sounds like a good idea."

"Right?" I smiled.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" she asked. "Everybody around here hates monsters."

"I'm not from around here," I said. Technically the truth.

"And in exchange for this," she said and then looked down at the three paralyzed individuals. "You want me to release your friends?"

"That'd be nice yeah," I said.

"Okay," she said. "Let's build a sign."

And within minutes we had made a sign by taking a branch and scraping 'Mandragora Lives Here, Do NOT Touch Plant Or You Will Face Dire Consequences' on a flat piece of wood. I did most of the work considering Mandy was stuck in the ground. But when we were finished we had a full fledged warning sign in front of Mandy. I gave a sigh of relief as I wiped sweat off my brow, and then I heard groaning as Evan, Jeremiah, and Luka all got up from the ground. The stun was finally wearing off.

"Nice of you to join us," I teased.

"Yeah yeah," Evan muttered.

Jeremiah looked at Mandy and said something I found surprising, "I'm sorry for falling on you."

"It's alright," Mandy said. "I apologize for getting so angry."

That also surprised me as well, "You're a little…"

I hesitated saying the last part but Mandy finished it for me, "Different for a monster? Yeah I get that a lot, which is why I'm gonna warn you. Many monsters wouldn't think twice about raping you all, speech isn't always gonna cut it. You're gonna have to train hard to survive in this world, remember that."

We all nodded and as we got ready to go our separate ways, Mandy called me over.

"What's up?" I asked.

"How well do you know that Evan fellow?" she asked me bluntly.

I was confused as to why she was asking but answered truthfully, "Not too well, we just met recently, why?"

"When he was paralyzed on the ground," she said. "There was something in his eyes and it wasn't fear, it was anger."

"Well," I rubbed the back of my head. "I would be upset too in the situation."

"This wasn't ordinary anger," she said. It was then I looked in her eyes, she looked...concerned. "This was pure rage. I could feel it coming off of him. I'd keep an eye on him, that boy has some unmanaged darkness."

"Why are you telling me this?" I asked.

"Believe it or not," she sighed, looking down. "I like you. In all honesty you were very brave to stand up to me without a weapon."

"O...oh," I blushed and felt my face turn red for some reason.

"That is why," she then looked me dead in the eyes. "I'm telling you to be careful."

I looked back at Luka, Evan and Jeremiah, they were all in better moods and were laughing about something. I hadn't known Evan for long, but it was hard to fathom that he could have so much darkness in him. Still, monsters had better senses than humans. I quickly decided to keep an eye out for any abnormalities in his behavior.

"Alright," I said, looking back at Mandy. "I will."

"Good," she nodded. "And remember, if you ever need someone to talk to. Pour water on my leaves. It's a little known trick to wake me up without all the headache. I'll be here if you need me."

After she said that her smile grew perverted again, "In more ways than one~"

I was about to stutter out some objection, but for some reason I couldn't, "I...I'll keep that in mind."

She nodded again, "Good luck on your journey Gary."

And without another word, she went back underground leaving me there, staring at the leaf. Despite the victory, I was more worried than ever before and I looked back at my friends. I wasn't sure what this meant for the group, but somehow I had a feeling...this was the start of something terrible. I only hoped I had the willpower to get myself and the group to the end.


	8. Chapter 8

We'd only made it a couple yards before Alice showed back up, slithering out of the woods.

"Alice!" I heard Luka exclaim. "You're back!"

I had forgotten that Luka didn't even know about Alice's decision to disappear during fights because he was unconscious during the slug battle.

"Hey Alice," I greeted her. Jeremiah said 'hi' and Evan just nodded towards her. I think they were both still shaken up about the Mandragora thing.

"Where'd you go?" Luka asked.

"I just was looking around the woods," she said.

"Why didn't you help?" Luka asked another question.

"I'm not your personal bodyguard," Alice said. "You need to learn to fend for yourself, anyways. Now, let's get moving, I wanna try that Ama Ama Dango."

So we all started walking again, Luka said we'd reach Iliasburg within the hour. This time, I made sure to occasionally glance up so I could stay with the group. After about 30 minutes, Alice slithered to the back where I was.

"Tell me," she started. "Do you believe in Luka's idea of coexistence?"

"Yes," I said, without hesitation. "Maybe not as much as Luka does though, there will always be fights, or worse. But, for the most part, yes, the two races can get along."

Alice stared into me for a couple unbearable seconds, and then immediately changed the subject. "I have to say though, I am impressed at your quick thinking with the Mandragora."

"Thanks," I said. Again, she was praising me. Which for some reason made me uncomfortable.

"Also," she continued. "Don't even think for a minute this lets you off the hook for embarrassing me yesterday night. Okay?"

"O...okay!" I said quickly as she moved back up towards Luka. The way she said that sent chills down my spine and I instantly realized the consequences of upsetting a Monster Lord. The thought of what she could do to me was terrifying. I shook my head rapidly and when I was done, I noticed everyone had stopped walking.

Luka was pointing towards a town a mile down the hill we were on. Iliasburg.

"Shit…" my eyes widened as I noticed the sunset and Alice changing herself into a human. This is when Luka first meets Granberia!  
_

We were approaching the center of town and I could already feel like I was about to piss myself when Luka suddenly ran ahead towards the plaza. That's when I remembered something else.

"Alice!" I called to the Lamia who was standing still, watching Luka run off. Jeremiah and Evan were just standing as well, unsure of what to do.

"What?" she questioned.

"When you were teaching Luka swordplay," I started. "You taught him Demon Decapitation right?"

"Why would I do that?" Alice asked. "It took me 3 hours just to teach him the basics. And by that time it was getting late."

Holy shit...this was not good. This entire part relied on Luka knowing a monster sword technique! I had to stop him from confronting Granberia. I took off running towards the plaza as I heard my friends shout 'wait'. As I ran, I thought about how stupid this was. Why would Lian send three idiots to keep the future from changing if we weren't smart enough to have foresight for these occasions? That's some serious faith right there.

Eventually I reached the plaza, and knew I was too late. Luka was already talking to the master swordswoman, and I could tell they were getting ready to fight. It was ironic really. I used to love this scene, especially when that badass music started. But there wasn't any music, there were no redo's, and there was no going back. This was real life, and real life sucked. But as I watched them start their fight, I realized that no matter how much real life sucked, I couldn't crawl into a corner and whine. Still, I had to wait for the right moment to intervene. I watched as Luka got his ass handed to him. I watched as he fell to the ground. I watched as Granberia ridiculed him. Every time he got hurt, I tensed up. This was all my fault...I made the decision to travel with Luka and Alice. I know everyone agreed to it, but I wondered if things would've been different if I hadn't made the choice. Sure there were some differences, but I felt like I was doing more harm than good. Luka wasn't gaining the experience he needed. I looked back at Luka and Granberia, the former trying to stand up. Even still, I wasn't gonna let Luka lose here. As Granberia raised her flaming sword for a final blow, I ran towards them. I could see Granberia look at me like I was crazy and prepared to counter attack. But I wasn't running towards her. I could feel my hands heat up for some reason, and I felt this weird instinct to grab Luka's hand. That's exactly what I did.

"Wha-" Luka couldn't finish speaking as there was a blinding flash of light and my energy drained completely. I let go of his hand and instantly fell to the ground. I could barely move at this point, but I could see Luka stand up with ease now. Granberia had a mix of shock and confusion, on the other side, Luka had pure determination in his eyes. Somehow he had gained the strength to fight again. It was then I realized, I had given him that strength! Luka charged back in, and started clashing with Granberia who, to my surprise, was actually having trouble. But I knew that she wasn't giving it her all still. Suddenly, she pushed forward and knocked Luka to the ground! Even giving him my energy wasn't enough. I thought this was it as she walked over to him, until I heard a familiar voice.

"Granberia!" Alice exclaimed.

"Y...you!" she said, stopping and staring in shock, then she kneeled.

I heard Luka go 'eh' in confusion. You'd think Granberia kneeling before Alice would be enough proof that Alice was the Monster Lord but this is Luka we're talking about here.

"What are you doing?" Alice questioned. "Who ordered you to attack this town?"

"I decided by myself," Granberia replied. "To get rid of these annoying heroes."

"Go away, you annoyance," Alice ordered. Luka's face was full of shock, but i was just glad that this conversation was happening and hadn't changed.

"B...but," Granberia protested. "If I leave now even more heroes will show up!"

"I told you to go away," Alice repeated. "If you go berserk, how am I going to taste the Ama Ama Dango?!"

"If you want something like that…" Granberia said. "Let me take over the city first."

"How can I sightsee with such an unsightly event happening, idiot?" Alice glared at Granberia. "Having to repeat a command three times...is that how you show your loyalty? I told you to go away."

"At once…" Granberia said. Before she left she scanned Luka and I. Her eyes showed mostly nothing, but when I looked a little closer, there was a hint of approval. Suddenly, her face turned to shock for a second, but she quickly shook her head and in the blink of an eye, she disappeared. I then heard running behind me and turned my head to look, Evan was running towards us with Jeremiah behind him, the latter looked like he was about to pass out. They both stopped at my side and tried to help me up.

"Dude!" Jeremiah exclaimed. "You were awesome!"

"Yeah!" Evan smiled. "The way you ran into the fight...well, I wouldn't have done it."

"I mean thanks…" I muttered. "But Luka and Alice did most of the work."

I looked at them, Luka looked tired as hell, but gave me an appreciative glance and Alice gave an ever so slight smile at my praise. Which was even more surprising.

"That reminds me," Luka turned to Alice, who avoided his gaze. "You were amazing back there!"

"That's it?!" Alice said shocked. "You don't even know...never mind."

Luka looked confused and Alice just sighed.

Meanwhile Jeremiah walked up to me, "How did you even do that, by the way? It's like you just powered up Luka."

"It must be your power," Evan answered for me. "You're able to give energy to somebody using your own. Which must be why you're so tired! That's so cool!"

"Yeah!" Jeremiah said excitedly.

I just nodded, sweating profusely. I was happy everything worked out in the end...but that didn't change how I felt. I started walking over to Luka and Alice to tell them I wasn't cut out for this when I noticed people running over towards us. The townsfolk were coming out of their houses. But I could barely hear what was going on as everything went blurry and fell to the ground unconscious. 


	9. Chapter 9

**Sorry for taking so long with this chapter, had a couple busy days. But either way, I hope you guys enjoy.**

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I woke up sitting in a somehow familiar chair, which was the first thing that told me something was off. Then I looked around, and realized that I was in my house!

"What?" For a split second, I thought that the whole thing could've been a dream. But I knew better. This was the dream. As I looked around, I noticed an unfamiliar man looking out the living room window. "W...who are you?"

The man looked at me and gave a slight smile, "Isn't it obvious?"

It took me a minute, but then it came to me, "You're Lian."

I looked him over, he reminded me a lot of Ilias: blonde hair, white robes, pale skin. He even had that strange overbearing sense of power. He nodded.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"Well, for one," he said. "I wanted to make sure you were okay, mentally wise. But that's not the main reason."

"What is?" I asked, though I had a weird feeling I already knew the answer.

"Because you're conflicted," he sighed. "You think you're doing more harm than good."

"Well yeah," I said matter of factly.

"You're not," he said, and when I opened my mouth to object, he continued. "Do you really think I would've brought you here if there was the slightest chance you could screw this up? I could've picked anyone, but I chose you three because I know you can do it."

I sat there silently for a couple seconds, but another thought came to the forefront, "Mandy, I mean, the Mandragora said that Evan had a darkness in him."

Lian looked solemn for a second, but then regained his happy look, "It's true. But everyone has at least some amount of darkness in them. There's not much you can do about it, other than keep him in check."

"I don't believe that," I said. For some reason, he started to look worried when I said it, but I continued. "I believe anyone can change, no matter the person."

"Even Ilias?" he questioned.

I thought about it for a second, surprised by the question, and said, "Yes."

Suddenly, his demeanor changed and the room grew dark and cold, "Then you don't know her enough. She's pure evil."

"But she's still your sister," I pressed. "She wasn't always like this, was she?"

The room got brighter again, and Lian regained his composure. It was like he'd just realized there was tension in the room. "It's true, but she knows there's no going back, just like me. Now, are there any other questions?"

I could tell he wanted to change the subject, so I did, "So, when this is all over, you'll take us home?"

"Was planning on it," he said.

"What if...I decide not to go?" I asked.

"Well," he said. "If you really don't want to go back, I can't force you."

"I'm not sure what I want yet…" I muttered, loud enough so he could hear. "I'm just talking hypotheticals."

"Right," he smiled. "Of course. Anything else?"

"One more thing," I said quickly. "How...how are my parents?"

"They're grieving," he said. "But they'll be alright until you come back."

'If I come back…' I thought to myself. "Alright, take me back."

"Naturally," he smiled. With a snap of his fingers, everything went black.  
_

Slowly, I woke myself up as the sun hit my eyes, and sat up in what was a very comfortable bed. I looked around, I was in what looked to be a very regal hotel room, most likely I was in the Sutherland Inn. I noticed the window in the corner of the room where the light was coming through, it had to be around 7 or 8 AM considering the colors in the sky. Sighing, I stood up and walked over to the mirror. I was in my normal clothes, but I noticed there were some new ones lying on a chair near the door. I hurried out of my old clothes and into the new ones and opened the door. There wasn't anyone in the hallway, but I saw the stairs at the end and decided my best bet to figure out what had happened was to head down. Once I got to the bottom, I was bum rushed by none other than Luka.

"Oh thank Ilias!" Luka exclaimed, hugging me intensely. "I was so worried, are you okay?"

"I'm alright…" I said through strained breaths. Suddenly, Luka was pulled off of me by a familiar tail.

"Hey Alice," I smiled, catching my breath. I looked at the two, but Luka was suddenly acting shy, his face bright red.

"Hi Gary," she said, unusually chipper. Oh.

"Well at least that plotline hasn't changed," I sighed, slightly relieved.

"Plotline…?" Luka questioned, coming back to reality. Shit.

"Just the ramblings of an idiot," Alice said quickly and looked at me sternly. "Right, Gary?"

"Y...Yes!" I gave a nervous smile, Alice looked pretty scary at the moment. "That's me! Gary the Idiot!"

Alice glared at me, probably thinking of ways to hurt me, then Luka said, "Okay, but don't call yourself an idiot."

Naive Luka had saved the day. I mentally scolded myself for slipping like that, and Alice rolled her eyes and mumbled something that sounded like, "I'm surrounded by idiots…"

"Gary!" Another voice exclaimed, I looked towards the stairs to see Evan and Jeremiah running down the steps. It was at that moment that Jeremiah slipped and tumbled down into Evan, both then proceeded to land on the wooden floor at the bottom of the stairs.

"Maybe Alice is right about that idiot thing," I muttered quietly, but I couldn't help but smile. Lian was right, he brought us here for a reason and I wasn't about to screw up the future if I can do something about it. I walked over to the two and helped them up.

"Thanks…" they said, both groaning.

"Suck it up you two," Alice said coming over, Luka behind her asking if they were okay. "We gotta get to planning our next move."

We all nodded.

"Hold on," I heard Luka exclaim. "Are we not gonna talk about yesterday at all?"

We all stopped in our tracks, even Alice. That's right! Luka had no clue that I had powers because of our fake backstory. I never even thought about how we would explain this to him.

"What about yesterday?" Alice asked, keeping a calm face.

"I mean," Luka explained. "How I managed to gain my strength back, what exactly did you do, Gary?"

I hesitated, what was I gonna tell him?! Lian didn't prepare me for this! "I-"

"I gave you that power," Alice interrupted me. I looked at her in shock.

"But…" Luka said. "Why didn't you tell me this before?"

"Like I told you," Alice said. "I'm not gonna help you with your battles, but I also know how powerful Granberia is. You weren't ready to fight her, so I gave you a pick me up. However, that will be the first and last time I'll help you fight in a battle with a monster, got it?"

Luka nodded swiftly, but I knew Alice's statement wouldn't last. Either way, I looked gratefully at Alice, who mouthed, 'you owe me, twice'. Though I was still surprised, I didn't expect Alice to help me out like that. At least not this early, and especially after I embarrassed her.

"Alright," I heard Evan say, thankfully changing the subject. "Now that's settled, what's the game plan?"

"Well," Luka said. "First we should head outside and ask around."

We all nodded again, and headed towards the door. I wasn't sure what to expect anymore, but I had hope that everything would work itself out. Lian had faith in us, so I should too. Without another thought, I exited the inn.


End file.
